The compact belt conveyor in which a forward side of an endless belt is slid and actuated on a slide bed has been much used for conveying small products or bulk products. In a conventional driving system, belt tension is caused by winding the belt on the drive pulley side and a conveying torque is reduced due to belt extension, and it has been necessary to keep the tension on the belt by additionally providing a take-up apparatus.
When the belt conveyor has been used for a feeder conveyor around a manufacturing machine of food products and medical products, a conveying surface and a periphery thereof must be always kept clean and are sometimes or normally cleaned when it becomes dirty. There has been no problem for cleaning the belt surface, however complete cleaning or sweeping of a belt rear surface or of a roller periphery can not be achieved without removing the belt from the frame or the roller.
In this kind of the conventional conveyor, since the forward side of the belt is always slid on the slide bed, the belt is easily damaged, and needs to be replaced. For replacing the belt, the frame provided with the roller is removed from the substructure or a main roller such as an end roller must be removed from the frame. Therefore it is disclosed by Japanese Utility Model Registration Application Publication No. Hei 5-24652 that the frame is mounted to open freely on one side of the substructure, normal conveying is performed by closing the frame, and the belt can be removed when the frame is opened upwardly.
The system disclosed by the above Japanese Publication is actuated by tension of the belt wound to the drive pulley, the conveying torque is reduced by belt extension, and it is necessary to keep the belt tension by additionally providing the take-up apparatus and the damage of the belt is caused proportionally, and the belt replacement must be practiced many times.